Strategic Market Leadership

Pondering Political Correctness

Tue, 2016-02-02 14:08 -- tomjonez

Last week I wrote an article entitled, “Leadership and Political Correctness – 5 Questions” (Click here to read).

It was amazing for me to see the written responses - and to hear the comments from those people with whom I interact locally. The topic of political correctness seems to have hit a discussion stream that is on the top of many people’s minds of late.

One reader, and friend, wrote a response that I am providing in its entirety. Ed McCahill is a seasoned and accomplished tech-industry executive who in more recent years has served as an astute financial advisor to many in the Puget Sound Region.

I believe that you will find that Ed’s thoughts are worth taking a few minutes to ponder…

Ed McCahill writes:

Great question, Tom, especially in this election year! Another core question for me is "How does the current climate of political correctness affect a leader's followers or subjects?".

The decisions made, or deferred, by a leader can have a very significant downstream impact on their people. Understanding a leader's perspective (political, business, spiritual, etc.) goes a long way towards shaping how a follower reacts to the impacts of their leader's decisions or deferrals. If we agree with the leader, then we will be more upbeat about the impacts of their decisions. However, if we disagree with them, then life can become a burden and the people can get quite restless.

My observations are that it works the same way in politics, business, church and family. The media reports on politics and business, mostly, but all four spheres of life are impacted by how a leader's followers align their views for or against their decisions/deferrals.

Most importantly, perhaps, is how they perceive the reasons and motivations underlying the leaders' decisions. The more politically correct the decision, the better for some folks and the worse for others.

I trust that for all of us who are chewing on this topic, Ed’s reflections will help us to be more discerning as we seek to sift through the many “politically correct” agendas and messages pouring through the media in this season.